Thanks Cong for raising Statehood issue
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 16: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today welcomed the Congress initiative to write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocating restoration of Statehood to the Union Territory, saying “we are not demanding something that was not promised to us”.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, he said the Supreme Court’s directive to the Centre to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s Statehood “as soon as possible” has gone long back.
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“This is a very good thing, we were waiting for this day when the opposition would raise our voice in Parliament and Delhi. I am thankful to Kharge and Rahul that they have raised the Statehood issue with the Centre”, the Chief Minister said, when asked about the letter.
He said, “We are not demanding something which was not promised to us. We were repeatedly promised within and outside Parliament, Supreme Court and public functions that the Statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir at the appropriate time”.
“You might remember that when Supreme Court passed its order (on Article 370), it called for restoration of Statehood as soon as possible.We are saying that as soon as possible had gone long back and now Jammu and Kashmir should get back Statehood as early as possible,”Omar said.
He hailed the successful mission of astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla aboard the International Space Station and said this is a step in the direction of hoisting the national flag on the Moon.
“It is good that he (Shukla) returned safe and sound. Earlier, our astronauts had gone on a space mission with Russian teams, but this time he went there aboard the International Space Station.
“The Government of India had a mission to send humans to the Moon on our own, and this is a step in that direction. I hope the time will come when the country’s flag will be hoisted on the Moon,” the Chief Minister said.
Talking about the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, Omar expressed hope that the number of pilgrims would cross 3.5 lakh this year.
“There was a time when we were sceptical about anyone coming for the yatra this time due to the Pahalgam incident. So far, 2.50 lakh people have visited, and if this trend continues, the number will easily cross the 3.50 lakh as the yatra will continue till August 9… I hope the number will increase further,” he said.
On the controversy surrounding his Government’s decision to make Urdu mandatory for the Naib Tehsildar recruitment examination, the Chief Minister defended the move, saying, “We do not have any wrong intention to keep anyone outside.”
“You have to keep in mind that our revenue records, even before independence, were in Urdu, so we will not deploy staff who cannot read Urdu. What work will they do?” he said.
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